GeneWatch UK PR: Paterson and GM industry work together to open England up to RoundUp Ready GM crops

9th June 2014

An EU "opt out" proposal on growing GM crops could fast
track controversial RoundUp Ready crops, which are blanket sprayed with weedkiller,
into England, warned GeneWatch UK today. UK Environment Secretary Owen Paterson
is expected to vote for the proposal at the Environment Council 12th
June and has worked closely with the GM industry on the policy.

Whilst Scotland and Wales will ban GM crops under the
proposals, England could fast track RoundUp Ready GM maize into the ground
(1). Two varieties of maize genetically
engineered to be tolerant to the weedkiller RoundUp are awaiting approval at EU
level, one produced by Monsanto and one by Syngenta. These so-called 'first
generation' GM crops are patented by multi-national companies which sell both
the seeds and the weedkiller to farmers as a package.

"The UK Government has
colluded with commercial lobbyists to fast track RoundUp Ready GM maize into
England, despite the expected harm to British wildlife such as birds and
butterflies caused by blanket spraying of these crops with weedkiller" said
Dr Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK. "If some farmers in England press ahead with GM cultivation as a result
of this proposal, conventional and organic
farmers across the country will face the unnecessary risk of loss of
markets due to contamination with GM".

Documents released to GeneWatch UK as the result of Freedom
of Information requests have highlighted how closely the UK Government is
working with the GM industry (2) and the extent to which commercial lobbying
has influenced the European proposals (3).

The EU "opt out" proposal is intended to speed up GM crop
approvals whilst allowing the countries opposed to growing them to opt out by
imposing bans on the cultivation of specific crops in specific regions.
Concerns about the "opt out" proposal include that previous commitments to
improve environmental risk assessment have yet to be implemented. This means
that RoundUp Ready crops, which are blanket sprayed with weedkiller, could be
approved for cultivation despite known environmental harms, including the
growth of herbicide-tolerant superweeds and the loss of habitat for birds and
butterflies (4). In the UK, there are no national measures for co-existence of
GM and non-GM crops and for liability for the costs of contamination incidents,
which can cost conventional and organic farmers many millions of pounds in lost
markets for their products.

Other GM crops in the EU pipeline are not suitable for
growing in the UK. Currently only a small area of one GM crop, a pest-resistant
GM maize (Bt maize) produced by Monsanto, is grown in the EU, mainly in Spain.